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Tanya said that since February they haven’t even unpacked any of their belongings because they were unsure if the move was going to go ahead at all.

She said: “It is horrible living like this, we are living out of boxes with two young children.

“After the woman refused to leave the house we contacted Exeter City Council straight away because as far as we were aware we had signed the deeds, meaning she wasn’t the tenant of the house anymore, we were.

“We have both since had a legal letter sent out to us since and it said that she has no legal standing to be in her house and we have no legal standing to be in our flat.”

The mum of two said she has also paid a visit to the Citizens Advice Bureau to see what the family can do next.

She added: “I feel like the council aren’t doing anything to help us now. They told me that because it would cost them money to reinforce the matter, they won’t take it any further.

“I really feel like they are trying to sweep it all under the rug. All we want is a bigger home for our family and we haven’t even been offered any compensation for the money that we have lost.

“We are now stuck with carpets for a house we aren’t even living in.”

The tenancy letter

Exeter City Council said it was aware of the couple’s case and hopes to find a solution.

A spokesperson said: “The council is aware of this case and is in communication with Mrs Cattran about possible solutions to what is an unfortunate situation.

“A mutual exchange is the assignment between two parties to, in effect, swap tenancies. We are not able to control whether one of the parties wishes to withdraw from the exchange and have no legal ability to force the exchange to go ahead. The council’s role in this process is to facilitate the necessary paperwork and arrange inspections so that the incoming tenants of each property are made aware of any non-standard fixtures and fittings, for which the council will not accept responsibility. We are also responsible for ensuring that the relevant gas and electric safety checks are carried out before the exchange. This forms part of our duties as a landlord.

“We do hope that we can work with the tenants to find a way to assist them with a move.”

Tanya said that following the incident she wants to warn other people that swapping houses is not a safe bet.

“When people break the laws, the council does nothing to enforce it and the victims are the ones that are punished and receive no help whatsoever.”

What is a mutual exchange?

A mutual exchange is a home swap between two social housing tenants. The people already in the property may want to move for a range of reasons, such as the current home is too small or even too large for them, they may also want to move to a new area to be closer to family, or just want change of scenery.

A mutual exchange is an alternative option for tenants who don't have a high enough priority or banding to be able to access a home through the normal allocation process.

Do you have to swap locally?

Tenants can swap homes with any other council tenant or Housing Association tenant that lives anywhere in the UK. The tenant will have to have the right to mutual exchange and both parties must agree to swap.

If the two tenants are eligible to swap, and live in the same street or even at different ends of the country, then they can progress the mutual exchange (swap). If you do want to swap, then you are not restricted to your current landlord, in fact all social housing landlords must allow mutual exchanges.

Can home swaps involve more than one property?

If you find a match and agree a home swap then you can swap with one tenant or you can try and find a MultiSwap house exchange.

With HomeSwapper, you have access to more than 10 million matches, allowing a chain of swaps if the person living in the home you want does not want to swap directly with you. HomeSwapper supports MultiSwap chains for up to five homes. A MultiSwap can be a great way of getting into the property you want. You can learn more about Multi Swaps via the HomeSwapper help page.